A Call To Action: Ending The Political Game on ATS

reply to post by Skyfloating


As much as I love the political discussion here, I have to say I wouldn't mind either at this point.

Of course, this was never an issue before we made the decision to combine PTS with ATS. For some reason we never had this problem then.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Don't let him bait you into saying that.

He is complaining because people can't gossip on political boards anymore. That's no reason to close the politics board. Can he not focus on policy, and not dirt? What is so hard about that?

If ATS were to make a political gossip board, where it was known that topics inside are gossip and nothing else, that would be fine. He can talk about whether Obama had a sex change at 8, or whether he's black, or Satan for all I care.

But that's not politics. Don't let him muddy the waters. There's a difference between politics and gossip/mudslinging.

Thank you for this, SO! I was seriously considering leaving ATS until the election was over.

The political boards should not be removed but...
That's a good idea. Have a Rumor area. So they can post all the "Barack HUSSEIN!!!! OMFG!!!!! Obama eats babies!" and pat each other on the back for discovering this.

But the Bullypulpit, and Decision 2008 can be civil. I hope. And heck I'm not even the most level headed person. Just one post where they used muk muk and towelhead set me off so badly I got a bunch of warnings and nearly quit until I was able to take a deep breath and cool off.

BTW Ziggy, that's an adorable picture!

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Krieger]

reply to post by Sublime620


We have never had issues on this board Sublime620, but I don't appreciate you talking about me like that when I'm obviously following this thread. If you want to talk to me, talk to me.

And I don't know if you follow my posts or not, but I don't participate in that kind of garbage anyway. The problem here is, even with the rules set down by SO, it's still far too subjective.

I'm not advocating talking about sex changes or Satan or any of that crap. There is a point though, when things go too far.

Originally posted by Bombeni
Politics are the only SANE thing to discuss here.

How can you type this, in all good faith, and then complain about the fact that the board has taken action to remove the crap and rhetoric thats come from both sides and focus on actual issues instead of rabid blogosphere opinions, viral tittle-tattle, fluff, non-sequitor arguments, smear tactics, ignorant fear mongering and utter nonsense?

Seriously. How can you?

We're trying to get back to SANE political discussion.


[edit on 11/0908/08 by neformore]

It's so nice to wake up to good news. I applaud the efforts here and agree that it would be fantastic to see the same message carried in other media outlets. It’s time to go check out the “new” front page on my now favorite message board.

Being an international board, I can see the problems. I am an unabashed Reformed Liberal. I do see how American Politics can PO folks. Closing threads for out right racisim is the correct thing to do but to curtail political posts because some group might be organised enough to use the technology to further they're agenda is NOT the way to go. Your going to end up chasing your tail or at the very least alienate many here on both sides. Like I said, you have the "IGNORE" button if you don't like whats being said by any poster. Its a self cleaning, correct manner to deal with this.

Zindo

reply to post by Sublime620

In addition to Skyfloating's response, threads like that get closed because they are completely irrelevant. Obama does not control what people say. Why people are joking that he's like Jesus is easily explained, but it's not necessary.

It has nothing to do with Obama, it has nothing to do with this election, and it has no business being discussed along side real politics. It's about as important as what you'll watch on E! News.

You see, that's your opinion. Some people might be interested in what is pushing this "messiah" image and most of us find it disturbing. Its your opinion that Obama is not connected to it in anyway. How can you not see that is a partisan opinion?

When Bush was running in 2004 I was a lurker on these forums. I seem to remember all kinds of discussion about ANYTHING Bush or people around him said about religion. I remember a huge thread after that picture of bush with a halo around his head came out.




reply to post by neformore

It would be helpful, if you took the political tinted glasses off for a moment, and actually read what SO said in his opening post.

Read the thread. Its full of people relived that these "neocons" and Republicans wont be able to disrupt discussion. If you were trying to make it non-partisan, you obviously failed.




[edit on 11-9-2008 by Dronetek]

Does this mean my Matt Damon thread is closed??

Doh!

Hey I am all for it SO! Hope it works!

where exactly does conspiracy theory and other "alternative" topics fit in here?

How is this line drawn ?



[edit on 103030p://bThursday2008 by Stormdancer777]

Hey, I love the Creation and the Cryptozoology parts of ATS! And Current Events is a good one too. UFOs... IDK about but just because I don't want to talk about it doesn't mean others don't. So don't diss those parts of ATS.

And again, good luck to the change and I hope it works. I promise to keep my cool. Next time they use a racist word I'll go out and scream at the mailbox like my neighbor does.

Originally posted by SkepticOverlord
We are, at our core, a conspiracy theory website.

Can we take political rumors and kill them ... like we did with the faux Michelle Obama Whitey tape? Someone put out the rumor and I think we all (most people) came to the conclusion that it was either Larry Johnson making it up or it was the Hillary camp using Larry Johnson as a tool.

Is killing internet rumors okay or is that off limits?

reply to post by neformore

Its your opinion that Obama is not connected to it in anyway. How can you not see that is a partisan opinion?

Do I think Obama is secretly trying to have people consider him to be like Jesus? I don't think I need to answer that.

It's a joke. For instance, watch the Daily Show - Jon Stewart does it all the time, but he's joking! And no, I don't think Obama asked Stewart to make those jokes.

Also, I wasn't here in '04, but I imagine Kerry got it pretty bad. Swift boat anyone? Flip flopping?

I think ATS is trying to update their standards on political discussion about ALL candidates. Not just liberal ones.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I'm not SO, but I can't see why he wouldn't want that. It adds positive discussion to the boards. While it may not be entirely relevant, the purpose behind the thread has poor intentions. I hope that's the biggest goal of this policy, not removing threads that are bad for candidates, but removing threads that have no positive intentions and spreading of lies.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Sublime620]

And yet most of the threads that are closed for these reasons are threads against Obama. I don't see many McCain attack threads closed around here, or Palin threads.

Take the thread that was created Tuesday with horribly fake pictures of Palin in a bikini and her kids drinking alcohol.

That thread wasn't deleted, no one was reprimanded. It was simply moved to BTS.

Hardly seems "fair" to me.

reply to post by Sublime620

Originally posted by Sublime620
reply to post by RRconservative

 

This is exactly what I consider to be political baiting. It has no basis at all.

Bush wasn't criticized for what he wore, or how patriotic he is, or whether when he scratched his face it looked like the middle finger.

In fairness, I can remember hundreds of times where Bush was mocked because he choked on a pretzel, or because of the way he pronounced certain words such as nuclear, or was called a chimp or worse. Those are not criticisms of his policies; those are downright insults.

On topic, I really want to do research on the allegation that the RNC has been trolling ATS. Lay out all the proof and discuss it in a separate thread.

Pardon my skepticism, but I honestly don't think ATS is of much interest to either the RNC or DNC operatives. There are hundreds of strictly political sites on the internet where they would and do operate. Why choose ATS?

great im tired of hearing all the whitewash from both sides of the spectrum. it just two sides of the same coin if i want to hear this type of reteric i'll just turn on fox news o i forgot i don't watch the news anymore because of that reasoning. keep up the good work ATS.

reply to post by nyk537


Not trying to attack you personally. I was just categorizing the threads that I assume will be closed.

Do you enjoy spending time on threads that don't discuss policy? Threads of which the only purpose is character assassination?

If not, I don't think this will affect you negatively in any way.

[edit on 11-9-2008 by Sublime620]